Justice News

Former Fort Leonard Wood Man Sentenced to 30 Years for Sexually Abusing a Child

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Tom Larson, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that a Brattleboro, Vt., man has been sentenced in federal court for the aggravated sexual abuse of a 6-year-old child at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.

Paul Kickery, Sr., 68, of Brattleboro, formerly of Fort Leonard Wood, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool on Thursday, Sept. 7, 2017, to 30 years and four months in federal prison without parole.

On Jan. 26, 2017, Kickery pleaded guilty to the aggravated sexual abuse of a child.

According to court documents, the victim reported that she had been sexually assaulted by Kickery multiple times over the course of approximately a year. During the time of the sexual assaults, between July 1, 2013, and July 31, 2014, both Kickery and the then-6-year-old victim were residing on the U.S. Army Military Base at Fort Leonard Wood.

When interviewed by law enforcement, Kickery admitted to sexually abusing the victim. Kickery also admitted to molesting a 15-year-old child while he lived in Vermont, and to viewing child pornography on the Internet, mainly of children between the ages of 10 and 15.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ami Harshad Miller. It was investigated by the FBI and the Brattleboro, Vt., Police Department.

Project Safe Childhood

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc . For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."